Survival, Submission, and Spiritualism
One thing that most religions have in common is a set of rules. Many of these rules benefit those who follow them, or the societies of those who follow them. Obviously 'Thou Shalt Not Kill' is intended to prevent members of a society from killing each other, which is obviously a threat to society. The Kosher and Halal guidlines for preparing food probably kept people from eating infected or contaminated food in a time before refrigeration and antibiotics. These rules, even though they are sometimes onerous, benefit the believers; these are the Survival Rules.
But most religions are not entirely for the benefit of their followers. Many are for the benefit of the church hierarchy or the ruling class. In primative societies, the ruling class often justified their positions because they were favored by God or the Gods, or had secrets of magick power that commoners lacked. So rules were made to make sure that the commoners were loyal and willing to prove it repeatedly. These Submission rules could be direct and practical, such as the rule that one should give a portion of their income to the hierarchy. Others are more abstract tests of obedience. Muhammad didn't gain any resources or volunteer labor for the fact that his followers had to pray 5 times a day. However, it kept the Muslims busy with thoughts of Islam, and it was a way of sorting out the less pious Muslims.
One interesting thing is that people will continue to follow various rules even when the ones who originally benefited from them have died off. People perform all kinds of odd rituals in the name of dead men who are no longer around to enforce the rules. Sometimes modern usurpers are there to enforce the rules, such as the dreaded virtue police in Saudi Arabia (Thus making Rules of Submission into Rules of Survival), but often people continue odd rituals purely out of tradition when there is no earthly consequence of abandoning these obsolete Rules of Submission.
Rules of Survival are often good to follow even though you follow them just because of religious belief. However, even Rules of Survival can become obsolete. Many Jews still go to great length to follow Kosher rules even though technology makes it perfectly safe to eat non-kosher food. Even some sexual prohibitions can be rendered obsolete by birth control and disease control technologies. This isn't to say that the rules are entirely pointless, unintended pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease, and food poisoning are still problems today. You can't break the obsolete Rules of Survival unless you fully understand and use the things that have made them obsolete.
Of course, many hierarchies don't like it when you try to render their holy Rules of Survival obsolete. A sin is still a sin. Hierarchies will go to great lengths to eliminate the factors of obsolescence for their rules. Abortion is widely believed by religious types to be a violation of 'Though Shalt Not Kill'. Rationally speaking the best way to reduce the rate of abortion is to prevent the unintended pregnancies in the first place. Contraception could do this, so you would think that the anti-abortion heirarchies would approve of it. But the Catholic church and many other political-religious organizations also oppose contraception. They don't like it because it lets people get away with fornication. They are proving that the rules about promiscuity are actually Rules of Submission.
When it comes to deciding which rules I follow, I don't just blindly follow what my religion tells me to. I try to sort out the Rules of Survival from the Rules of Submission. It's not enough to know that something is a sin, it's necessary to know why. In the ancient times people were too ignorant to know why or why not the Rules of Survival work. But in modern times when most people are literate and many own what would have been supercomputers in the recent past, ignorance is no longer an excuse. Promiscuity is dangerous because it transmits some of the most horrifying diseases, not because some ancient king decided that 'its evil'. Failing to pray towards Mecca 5 times a day is a bit harder to justify in modern times. A true believer may abhor both because they fear that Allah will punish them. By the way, in Islam the 5 pillars, the holiest of all laws don't forbid sexual promiscuity. You have to read into the Quran pretty deeply to find that part. So obviously the Rules of Submission are more important in spite of the fact that promiscuity is more hazardous to your physical an mental health. If you know the difference as to why the rule is made, you can avoid disease while at the same time avoiding wasting your time stoking the ego of a dead king.
So, in conclusion, think for yourself to try to sort out the Rules of Submission from the Rules of Survival. When in doubt its best to play it safe, but following rules blindly can be more hazardous than violating rules carelessly, just ask any Kamikaze pilot.
p.s. Sorry about picking on the Muslims so much, nearly all religeons are guilty of enforcing onerous Rules of Submission; Its just the the Muslim rules have been discussed more recently
p.p.s. By the way, the word Islam means submission, and Muslim means 'one who submits'.
p.p.p.s. Praying at the right times may be a Rule of Survival in Saudi Arabia
